Australia’s ginger industry is set to receive a major boost after Queensland’s largest producer signed a development lease on 223 hectares of land in the Mary Valley this week.
Templeton Farming Enterprises (TFE) have leased three lots on Tuchekoi Road, Bollier; previously leasing land at Kandanga on a month-by-month basis.
TFE are to establish a new farming operation to produce 800 tonnes of ginger and 5,500 tonnes of sugar cane by 2018.
They expect to be able to grow greater quantities of ginger to meet demands of the Australian market and replace ginger currently being imported from Fiji.
Ginger grower Shane Templeton said that he is both excited and scared of the project ahead.
“Australia is part of the process of having a new player, with less being grown in the Sunshine Coast and more growth in Gatton and Bundaberg due to geographic changes,” Mr Templeton said.
“It is good for the Australian industry, and employs the local community.”
The Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning’s principle media officer Elspeth Costello said the department has been working with TFE, and the Templeton announcement is a milestone in the Mary Valley economy.
“The department’s main role in this instance is to return government-owned land in the Mary Valley to private ownership,” Ms Costello said.
TFE’s development joined outdoor education specialists Higher Ground, who signed a development lease in February, and fern growers Cedar Hill who signed last week.
For the University of Queensland
Kemii 